Image Gallery poised to move from Gastonia to Belmont

Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 05:45 PM.

Dodie Huffman thought the move her photography studio made inside Gastonia about a year ago would be its last for some time.

Yet when a new opportunity recently emerged in downtown Belmont, it was too picture-perfect to ignore.

“This really was not in our plans at the moment,” said Huffman, owner of Image Gallery. “But I’ve always kind of dreamed of being in Belmont because I love it so much, and we do have a lot of customers who live there.”

Image Gallery had been located at 425 W. Franklin Blvd. in Gastonia, while also maintaining a small satellite office at 339 E. Catawba St. in Belmont. A recent game of small-business musical chairs will result in the gallery’s entire operation moving to 132 N. Main St.

The snowball was set in motion when 3 Hip Chicks recently closed its doors at 140 N. Main St. in Belmont. A neighboring gift shop, Surprise Me, took the opportunity to move into the newly vacant space last week.

Huffman’s husband Scott heard about that transition and asked the building owner about the availability of Surprise Me’s old location at 132 N. Main. He was told someone else had already tied it down.

But a short while later, the property owner called the Huffmans with news that the previous deal had fallen through. They bit immediately.

Dodie Huffman thought the move her photography studio made inside Gastonia about a year ago would be its last for some time.

Yet when a new opportunity recently emerged in downtown Belmont, it was too picture-perfect to ignore.

“This really was not in our plans at the moment,” said Huffman, owner of Image Gallery. “But I’ve always kind of dreamed of being in Belmont because I love it so much, and we do have a lot of customers who live there.”

Image Gallery had been located at 425 W. Franklin Blvd. in Gastonia, while also maintaining a small satellite office at 339 E. Catawba St. in Belmont. A recent game of small-business musical chairs will result in the gallery’s entire operation moving to 132 N. Main St.

The snowball was set in motion when 3 Hip Chicks recently closed its doors at 140 N. Main St. in Belmont. A neighboring gift shop, Surprise Me, took the opportunity to move into the newly vacant space last week.

Huffman’s husband Scott heard about that transition and asked the building owner about the availability of Surprise Me’s old location at 132 N. Main. He was told someone else had already tied it down.

But a short while later, the property owner called the Huffmans with news that the previous deal had fallen through. They bit immediately.

“We’re really excited,” said Dodie Huffman. “We’ll do an upfit this month. We’re hoping to be open the first of April.”

Huffman got her start 10 years ago when she opened her first studio, Photogenics, on South York Street in Gastonia. She later moved downtown, into a 6,000-square-foot building on Main Avenue.

In January 2013, Image Gallery downsized by moving into a 2,000-square-foot space at 425 W. Franklin Blvd. Huffman shared the space with Tina Smith Realty and Stat Services, and thought the arrangement would stick.

But Main Street in Belmont was too good to pass up, she said. Image Gallery will have slightly more space in the new location, but not so much that utility costs are a problem, as they were in the much larger downtown Gastonia building.

The Montcross Chamber of Commerce, and organization President Ted Hall in particular, were instrumental in the move, Huffman said.

“Ted was so helpful to us in getting that space,” she said. “He’s just wonderful.”

Huffman said the gallery will offer services to supplement the photography work, such as custom framing and photo restoration.

“We’ll have a really nice gallery in front where people can come in and look at our work, and more in the windows,” she said. “It will be real high-end looking.”

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or twitter.com/GazetteMike.